Treacy disappointed despite improved finish

"Disappointed" was how Sara Treacy described her feelings 24 hours after she had completed the European Cross-Country Championships at Lake Valenje, Slovenia on Sunday. This was her third year running in the women's u-23 race and while she finished in 18th position, 10 places above where she ended up last year, recording a time of 20 minutes 53 seconds, she felt she still could have performed better. "Initially I was pretty disappointed, but I was happy enough I guess, it was okay. I was hoping for a bit better than where I finished considering the shape I'm in," she said from Frankfurt airport on her way back to England where she is a student of Loughborough University. "I wanted to get in the top 10 in the u-23 category and I didn't do it on the day. Just the way the race panned out I wasn't very happy with it. I'm not devastated, but I was hoping to do better. The course was so quick with lots of bends," she said. This was Treacy's last time to run at the u-23 level and along with her three appearances in the European Cross-Country Championships and two outings in the Junior Championships she says she has gained valuable experience in international running with Sunday another lesson learned. As far as the Irish were concerned the main focus was the women's senior race with Fionnuala Britton who, after experiencing disappointment in previous years, put in the display of her life to win the senior title in a time of 25.55. The other Meath runner at the championships, Andrew Ledwith, also had mixed fortunes. Despite leading the way early on the Fr Murphy athlete finished in 35th place. Ledwith looked at one stage that he would feature prominently, but he slipped back into the field and finished with a time of 30.17. The race was won by AY Bekele (Belgium) in a time of 29.15 with Joe Sweeney the best of the Irish in fifth place. His time was 29.23. While Treacy would love to have been heading back home to Moynalvey on Monday rather than to England, she intends to travel back to Ireland for Christmas later this week. After a recovery spell she plans to start her preparations for the 2012 indoor season in the new year. While she didn't reach the heights she had hoped for in Slovenia, the Moynalvey athlete can look back on a memorable year with the highlight of her success winning the senior National Cross-Country Championships at Sligo. She produced some fine form in that event to cross the line an impressive 17 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.